It’s Facebook official now- between the social network and U.S. Federal Trade Commission , the $5 billion settlement is approved by a judge on Friday.
The settlement was endorsed by FTC last July over a long ruling probe over privacy violations, and now the deal has overruled objections that Facebook Inc. wasn’t punished enough.
FTC and Facebook had urged to appeal the deal in the court, as some of Facebook’s illegal actions regarding user privacy had been overlooked, and pressed the court to re-consider them. Facebook will be fined with an “unprecedented” penalty of $5 billion, along with building more protections into the company’s platforms.
In a statement, Joseph Simons, the chairman of FTC says that they’re pleased to have made the decision, and that the historic $5 billion settlement is “by far” the largest monetary penalty made on behalf of the agency in the U.S.
As Facebook continues to get scrutinized for its data practices over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Michel Frotti, the company’s chief privacy officer, said in a blog post that the judge’s approval will now pave ways for new provisions like ensuring privacy practices being met with the government’s expectations from executives, and adding a new privacy committee to the board, as per the settlement.